Het Design Musem

This lesson of Art Class was different from the others. Firstly, our Erasmus group visited a beautiful

Sint-Baafs Cathedral

source: http://www.48houradventure.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Ghent-Cathedral.jpg

and then, we had a chance to take a closer look to the exhibition at the

Design Museum:

Now, I would like to share with you with the pictures of objects which attracted my attention at the DESIGN MUSEM.

I especially liked the above table-set with cute little frogs !

the view at the giant vase outside the window

 

70s - like chair design

MY EXERCISE WITH THE USE OF TONY-B MACHINE

Hello, 

In today`s post I am going to present MUSIC ACTIVITY, I am looking forward to implement in my future English language classes.

As a future teacher I would like to focus on teaching English to 8 and 9 years old. 

For a language teacher, the selection of teaching materials and activities is crucial. Also, we cannot forget that 8 and 9 years old children mostly still want to have fun. Thus, the process of learning should include various methods of teaching that seem attractive to the learners. There are numerous ways to make our lesson attractive and not let our students to get bored. 

Tony-b Machine is exactly what 8 and 9 year old kids will appreciate. What is more, kids will have fun, a lot of laugh, the possibility to develop their aural recognition of different sounds, feel the rhythm and learn English words!

The positive influence of music on the process of learning is well known and numerous research proved that music can not only influence our mood, contribute to curing diseases but also help us to learn a foreign language.

MY TASK IS:

Act it out!  

aim: creating music with the use of Tony-B Machine with the simultaneous acting out teacher`s/ students `commands on a given sound.

students: aged 8 and 9 years old

tools: computer (with the access to Tony-b Machine), yoga mats, flashcards with a command written on it

PROCEDURE:

Every student takes a yoga mat and sits in the circle. Students are familiarized with TONY-B MACHINE and its basic melody. Then, teacher explains that the point of using this tool is to create the music. There are different extra sounds and each of them recquires a different motion to be made by students. The commands are written on flashcards. Students are familiarized with the expressions and with which sound goes which expression. Firstly, a teacher creates a music (on every additional sound students have to act out an instruction, for example:

on: CRASH everyone sits down

on: SHINE everyone stand up

on HH: everyon points to the nose

Then, students take over the teachers role and create their own music with giving instructions to their classmates.

I perceive it as a fun way of teaching imperatives/ commands. And this is my idea how to implement TONY-B MACHINE within an English Lesson.

hope you will like it. I cannot wait to apply this exercise in my practice.

the picture was taken from:http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/wp-content/blogs.dir/428/files/2012/04/i-72d346ba340425602e6670e93a1d2037-flagofUK.jpg

Welcome to London !

In today`s post, I am really looking forward to write about my trip to London which I made with my Polish and Spanish friends. Although, I study to be an English Language Teacher, I have never been to the UK before! 

Nowadays, when English is an international language and one of the most frequently spoken language on the world, we are exposed to culture of the English-speaking countries a lot. As a future English Teacher, I am surrounded by English culture and traditions at my University.

But I must admit that London surprised me, its atmosphere,  dignity and pride is uncomperable to any pictures presented in movies, songs or textbooks!

now, I would like to show you some pictures from my stay in this amazing city <3

1. Our first-place-to-see was Big Ben and the Palace of Westminister

2. I liked taking pictures of the streets of London

3. ... and London cabs

 4. On our first day in London it was raining. An umbrella was a must.

5. A magical Hyde-Park

6. In the Hyde Park I especially loved the magical statue of the famus Peter Pan! 

7. It was also impossible to not see Buckingham Palace. Here, I am on my way, taking pictures of cabs again.

8. Buckingham Palace ;)

9. and the last picture I want to share with, presents a piece of China Town in London.

Polish Easter in Belgium

Easter is the most important holiday in Poland. It is associated with joy and happiness. Poles love Easter decorations and are extremely creative, because most people do Easter decorations themselves. My house is always nicely decorated for Easter and I love the atmosphere of spring which is in the air then!

Poland is the land of numerous traditions. One of them is Easter Breakfast which we eat with family and friends. On Easter Breakfast there are many delicious Polish dishes. 

This is the most famous soup served on Easter is ŻUREK: 

(which should be served inside a bread)

source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_pWxS9Zvjm_yrI8I1TINXWITkaP2qPVk5EVNJJaqhREVgmGs6Sxj4cdno9N-QcBxeN7fp6OmTUfnOCeCg-4KpC7Q5S6ZvA90GKVHOrslLk9fPY20sM1QZ4qjw5ks6QEmTyg-pgweBof7y/s1600/Zurek-w-chlebie-proste-przepisy-kulinarne.jpg

When it was closer and closer to Easter I wondered how my Easter will look like in Belgium. And despite the thousands of kilometres from Poland, my first Easter abroad, was in Polish style! At this point I would like to share with you pictures of some Easter masterpieces done by my family who sent those decorations to me: 

1. Easter Eggs 

 2. Easter-Eggs-Gingerbreads 

(the white ones are with white frosting)

 

above you can see delicious Easter Bunnies<3

I think that the sweets done by my family are just a masterpiece!

3. Poish Easter in Belgium could not exist without a traditional Polish breakfast which I have prepared with my Polish and Spanish friends!

Welcome to the world of comics !

It is interesting how many fans of comics there are on the world. People who have private collections of comics, children who buy comics or adults who someday in a rush of daily responsibilities find a box containing their childhood stuff and among old clothes, music tapes, family pictures and postcards from vacations there are their beloved comic book. 

Nowadays, we have various types of comics originated from different countries. 
  For instance, Japanese Manga, which differs significantly from any kinds of comics:

the picture was taken from: http://artinspired.pbworks.com/f/1235355636/manga%20in%20america.png

Writing at this point, it is impossible not to mention about Belgium, the homeland of comic art. 

During the trip to Brussels, with the Culture in Context group, we had a chance to visit

Belgian Comic Strip Center

here, are some pictures from the Museum:

On the first picture, the comics character of Tintin: 

 

the picture of Tintin was taken from: http://us.tintin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/characters-tintin-in-tibet-select5.jpg 
Some examples of comics -->

In Belgian Comic Strip Center:

Some more  art:

<-- In the Belgian Comic Strip Center there were very interesting texts and descriptions of exhibition concerning the comics, how they are make and what techniques are used.

 

the picture of Lucky Luke was taken from:http://www.weirdspace.dk/LuckyLuke/Graphics/LuckyLuke.jpg

The next Art Class Session, the main theme concerned COMICS. During the lesson we were familiarized with well-known Belgian comics:

1. 

2. 

" A dog of Flanders" is a comic book, which is very famous not only in Belgium, but as well in ,for example, Japan. This comics, about  "a dog of Flanders" was published several times in many languages, not only in English, and has as well many movie adaptations (also Japanese).  The story is extremely famous especially in Japan. What is more, Japanese tourists who came to visit Belgium kept asking about the Dog of Flanders, and finally, a statue in memory of this famous tale was built in Antwerp.

source: http://cdn3.vtourist.com/4/1168597-A_monument_for_Nello_and_Patrasche_Antwerp.jpg

What is more...

During the lesson we had a special task: to draw a comics in groups! I enjoyed this activity because it was not boring. Each of the groups was given a big piece of paper and a one figure. Then, we followed the instructions of a teacher and various tasks and we switched with each group adding some new details to every comics.

 

At the end of this session our task was to draw our own comics on the basis of the story which was created during group work. Here is my comics about a very busy Snowman! 

From single illustrations, the story of a snowman was created !